Rumor: Gulftown CPU to power Mac Pros in 2010

Apple has reportedly selected Intel's Xeon Gulftown CPU to power the next-generation of Mac Pros. ??According to Hardmac, the new Mac Pro line is slated for launch in early 2010.

"[Xeon Gulftown] will be installed in the future Mac Pro revision to create a new gap between the iMac Core i7 and the Mac Pro models," wrote Hardmac's Linathael.

"This future Mac Pro will then offer 12 physical and 24 logical cores, more than enough power for heavy task, the bottleneck now being the way applications are coded to benefit from such raw power."

Linathael explained that the six-core Xeon Gulftown is approximately 50 percent faster than Intel's "corresponding" quad-core Xeon. In addition, the 32nm chip uses 50 percent less power in idle mode, while decreasing full loading mode power draw by a respectable 10 percent.